Sports Betting » Fixed odds gambling

Tennis

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:09:22 +0000

Tennis is a sport played between either two players (“Singles”) or two teams of two players (“doubles”). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a ball, a hollow rubber ball covered in felt, over a net into the opponent’s court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court tennis), an older form of the game that is played indoors on a very different kind of a court. Originating in England in the late 19th Century, the game spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, by all ages, and in many countries around the world. Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1890s. Along with its millions of players, millions of people follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Sources

The Game — My 40 Years in Tennis (1979) — Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9)

External links

General

History

Regional

New ideas

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Federer & Hewitt Best tennis rally Ever

Snooker

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:51:23 +0000

Snooker is a billiards sport that is played on a large (12′ × 6′) baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. It is played using a cue, one white ball (the cue ball), 15 red balls (worth 1 point each) and 6 colours: a yellow (2 points), green (3 points), brown (4 points), blue (5 points), pink (6 points) and black ball (7 points). A player wins a frame of snooker by scoring the most points, using the cue ball to pot the balls in the manner described below. A match consists of an agreed number of frames. Snooker is particularly popular in English-speaking and Commonwealth countries, and the Far East.

Motor sports

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:27:46 +0000

Fernand Gabriel driving a Mors in Paris-Madrid 1903

Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, autosport or motorsport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. Motor racing or motorsport may also mean motorcycle racing, and it can further include motorboat racing and air racing. It is one of the world’s most popular spectator sports and perhaps the most thoroughly commercialized.

History

The start

Auto racing began almost immediately after the construction of the first successful petrol-fuelled autos. In 1894, the first contest was organized by Paris magazine Le Petit Journal, a reliability test to determine best performance. That first race now is called Paris to Rouen 1894. Competitors included factory vehicles from Karl Benz’s Benz & Cie. and Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach’s DMG.

A year later the first real race was staged in France, from Paris to Bordeaux. First over the line was Émile Levassor but he was disqualified because his car was not a required four-seater.

An international competition began with the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing.

The first auto race in the United States, over a 54.36 mile (87.48 km) course, took place in Chicago, Illinois on November 2, 1895, Frank Duryea winning in 10 h and 23 min, beating three petrol-fuelled cars and two electric. The first trophy awarded was the Vanderbilt Cup.

City to city racing

With auto construction and racing dominated by France, the French automobile club ACF staged a number of major international races, usually from or to Paris, connecting with another major city in Europe or France.

These very successful races ended in 1903 when Marcel Renault was involved in a fatal accident near Angouleme in the Paris-Madrid race. Eight fatalities caused the French government to stop the race in Bordeaux and ban open-road racing.

1910-1950

The 1930s saw the radical differentiation of racing vehicles from high-priced road cars, with Delage, Auto Union, Mercedes-Benz, Delahaye and Bugatti constructing streamlined vehicles with engines producing up to 450 kW(612HP) with the aid of multiple superchargers. From 1928-1930 and again in 1934-1936, the maximum weight permitted was 750 kg(1654Lbs), a rule diametrically opposed to current racing regulations. Extensive use of aluminium alloys was required to achieve light weight, and in the case of the Mercedes, the paint was removed to satisfy the weight limitation, producing the famous Silver Arrows.

Ice hockey

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:51:14 +0000

Ice hockey, referred to simply as hockey in Canada and the United States, is a team sport played on ice. It is one of the world’s fastest sports, with players on skates capable of going high speeds on natural or artificial ice surfaces. The most prominent ice hockey nations are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States. While there are 64 total members of the International Ice Hockey Federation, those seven nations have dominated ice hockey. Of the sixty medals awarded in men’s competition at the Olympic level from 1920 on, only six did not go to one of those countries (or a former entity thereof, such as Czechoslovakia or the Soviet Union) and only one such medal was awarded above bronze. ^[1]Ice hockey is most popular as a sport in areas that are sufficiently cold for natural, reliable seasonal ice cover. It is one of the four major North American professional sports, represented by the National Hockey League (NHL) at the highest level. It is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. Six of the thirty NHL franchises are based in Canada, but Canadians currently outnumber Americans in the league by a ratio of almost three to one, and about thirty percent of the league’s players are non-North Americans. The sport’s popularity in the US is concentrated in certain regions, notably the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and Alaska.

Notes

^ Olympic Ice Hockey – The Complete Medal List. Retrieved on February 18, 2006.| accessyear=2006}}

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Keio Vs Yonsei Icehockey

Horse racing

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:36:49 +0000

Horse racing is an equestrian sport which has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is often inextricably associated with gambling.

Forms of horse racing

One of the principal forms of horse racing, which is popular in many parts of the world, is thoroughbred racing. Harness racing is also popular in the eastern United States and more popular than thoroughbred racing in the United Kingdom and Canada. Quarter horse and Arabian racing are also popular in the western United States.

The breeding, training and racing of horses in many countries is now a significant economic activity as, to a greater extent, is the gambling industry which is largely supported by it. Exceptional horses can win millions of dollars and make millions more by providing stud services, such as horse breeding.

Pedigree

While the attention of horse racing fans and the media is focused almost exclusively on the horse’s performance on the racetrack, or for male horses possibly its success as a sire, little publicity is given to brood mares. Such is the case of La Troienne, one of the most important mares of the 20th century to whom many of the greatest thoroughbred champions, and dams of champions, can be traced.

Links

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Horse Racing – Horse Smashes Into Running Rail

Greyhound racing

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:47:23 +0000

Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure (an artificial hare or rabbit) on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner.

In many countries, greyhound racing is purely amateur and conducted for enjoyment. In other countries (particularly the US, UK, and Australia), greyhound racing is a popular form of parimutuel gambling, similar to horse racing. There is some popular concern in the latter countries regarding the well-being of the dogs; the effectiveness of industry efforts to address these concerns is controversial. A greyhound adoption movement has arisen to assist retired racing dogs in finding homes as pets.

Golf

admin — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:05:24 +0000

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

Golf (gowf in Scots) is a sport where individual players or teams hit a ball into a hole using various clubs, and is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed standard playing area. It is defined in the Rules of Golf as “playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.”Golf originated in Scotland and has been played for at least five centuries in the British Isles. The oldest course in the world is The Old Links at Musselburgh. Golf, in essentially the form we know it today, has been played on Scotland’s Musselburgh Links since 1672, and earlier versions of the game had been played in the British Isles and the low-countries of Northern Europe for several centuries before that. Although often viewed as an elite pastime, golf is an increasingly popular sport that can be played for one’s entire life.

Etymology

The word Golf is first mentioned in 1457 in a Scottish statute on forbidden games as Gouf, which may be related to Dutch kolf, “bat, club”. A folk etymology also suggests golf refers to “Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden”.

Golf Movies

A Gentlemen’s Game
Happy Gilmore
The Greatest Game Ever Played
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Tin Cup
Caddyshack

Links

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Golf Tips – Hit The Driver 300+ Yards!!!

Darts

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:20:09 +0000

Darts in a dartboard

Darts is a game, or rather a variety of related games, in which darts are thrown at a circular target (dart board) hung on a wall. Though various different boards and games have been used in the past, the term ‘darts’ usually now refers to a standardized game involving a specific board design and set of rules.

As well as being a professional competitive sport, darts is a traditional pub game, commonly played in the United Kingdom (the first to officially recognize darts as a sport), the Netherlands, Israel, the Scandinavian countries, the United States and elsewhere.

Standardized dart board.

Cross-country skiing

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:53:57 +0000

Tartu Marathon 2006 cross-country ski race in Estonia.

Cross-country skiing (also known as XC skiing) is a winter sport popular in many countries with large snowfields, primarily Northern Europe and Canada. The popularity of the sport has been quickly growing in the United States. Finnish soldiers on skis. Like most of the other Fennoscandinavian armies, virtually every infantry soldier is given ski training in the Finnish army.

Cross-country skiing is part of the Nordic skiing sport family, which also includes ski jumping, and a combination sport of cross-country skiing and ski jumping called Nordic combined. Free-technique cross-country skiing is also the method of locomotion in the combination sport of Biathlon, which adds rifle marksmanship to skiing.

A hobby and a sport

Recreational skiing in Kananaskis Country, Alberta.

As a hobby, cross-country skiing may be viewed as a kind of “bushwalking on skis”, where skiers tackle trails of various lengths and difficulties. Some skiers stay out for extended periods using tents and equipment similar to bushwalkers/hikers, whereas others take relatively short trips from ski resorts on maintained trails.

As a sport, cross-country skiing is one of the most difficult endurance sports, as its motions use every major muscle group and it (along with rowing and swimming) is one of the sports that burn the most calories per hour in execution. Modern cross-country ski competition is experiencing a revolution that is resulting in greater compatibility with audiences which began with the addition of the Sprint event to the World Cup and Olympic competitions. Today more and more races are being held in audience friendly formats, such as mass start, sprint, relay and pursuit (a race that involves switching skis and styles halfway through the race). The modern events in which athletes compete in at the World Cup and Olympics are (distances presented in Female/Male format): 1km Sprint, 2X1km Team Sprint, 10km/15km Individual Start, 15km/30km Pursuit, 30km/50km Mass Start and the 4x5km/4x10km Relay.

Sports events

Cross-country skiing (skating style) in Einsiedeln, Switzerland.

Today, there are several types of cross-country competitive events, involving races of various types and lengths, as well as biathlon, involving a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting with a rifle.

The Winter Olympics, the FIS World Championships and the FIS World Cup events (including the Holmenkollen) have long been a showcase for the world’s fastest cross country skiers. There are also special distance ski races, sometimes called ski marathons, like Vasaloppet in Sweden and Birkebeineren in Norway. The skiing styles in these races might be fixed, or, in case of the so-called “double pursuit” event, the two styles are used each in their own separate half of the race (with a change of equipment in “pit stops” half way through).

Cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics
FIS Nordic skiing World Championships (including XC skiing)
XC skiing World Cup (weekly races throughout the winter seasons)

Cross-country skiers in western Norway.

Biathlon

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:45:19 +0000

Biathlon (not to be confused with duathlon) is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. Biathlon, however, usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Another popular variant is summer biathlon, which combines cross-country running with riflery.Unsurprisingly, biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany (ARD, ZDF), Norway (NRK), Finland (YLE), Sweden (SVT), Russia (RTR), Belarus (TVR), Slovenia (RTV), Estonia (ETV), and Bulgaria (BNT); it is also broadcast on European-wide Eurosport. Some events are broadcast on U.S. cable channel OLN.

The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport’s main sponsors usually gives a similar, and correlated, indication of popularity: for biathlon, these are the Germany-based companies E.ON Ruhrgas (energy), Krombacher (beer), and Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems).

Sports Betting » Fixed odds gambling

Tennis

Sources

External links

General

History

Regional

New ideas

Snooker

Links

Motor sports

History

The start

City to city racing

1910-1950

Links

Sanctioning bodies

Student Racing Teams

Ice hockey

Links

Notes

Horse racing

Forms of horse racing

Pedigree

Links

Greyhound racing

Links

Golf

Etymology

Golf Movies

Links

Darts

Links

Organizations

Equipment

History

Rules

Analysis

Cross-country skiing

A hobby and a sport

Sports events

Links

Biathlon

Links